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The Son Details

2002 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 1821 members

Olivier, a carpenter who teaches his craft to teenagers become obsessed with a new student, Francis. The reason for his obsession soon becomes apparent... Read more

Starring Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart
Director Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Genres Drama, World Cinema

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The Son cover art

The Son

Olivier, a carpenter who teaches his craft to teenagers become obsessed with a new student, Francis. The reason for his obsession soon becomes apparent...

Starring Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart
Director Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Studio ARTIFICIAL EYE
Run time DVD: 1 hr 41 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: French
Dubbed Italian
Subtitles DVD: Dutch, English, Italian
Released DVD: 28 Jul 2003
Production year: 2002
Format DVD

The Son (2002)

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  • Critics' reviews (6) of The Son

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    Belgian film-makers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne apply their uncompromising brand of social realism to the subject of masculine emotion in this unsettling account of a carpentry teacher's relationship with the teenager responsible for the death of his son. There's also an element of suspense in deciphering the nature of Olivier Gourmet's intentions towards student Morgan Marinne — is he looking for revenge or simply understanding? Aggressively employing a hand-held camera to reinforce Gourmet's superb portrayal of the bereaved man's fraught state, the Dardenne brothers explore the nature of pain, forgiveness and the notion of the redemptive dignity of labour, finally uncovering the potential for good in this most unprepossessing of settings.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • "There are few filmmakers today for whom moviemaking is as deeply moral an enterprise as it is for Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne....[A] powerful new film..."

    • Los Angeles Times
    • Posted 11 Mar 2005

  • Most helpful member's review of The Son

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  • 19 out of 19 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    All should see it!!!

    The directors of 'The Son' brothers Jeane-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, are together experienced documentarians. This is made explicitly clear in the film's style, which affords the camera the rare opportunity in modern cinema to see rather than show. The difference is immense. Renoir, Ozu and Rossellini understood the difference, and so do the Dardennes.

    The Dardenne brothers are masters of exploding the minutiae of everyday life to beautiful, poetic proportions. Their films are largely concerned with observing people at work (see also Rosetta and La Promesse), obsessively detailing the structures and routines of the mundane. Hitchcock famously described film as life with the boring bits removed; a Dardenne film is life with the boring bits dissected, investigated and celebrated.

    The film is about all the sons - the sons that were, the sons that are and the sons that will be - and all should see it.

      • AngrySloucher from Norfolk
      • Posted 06 Oct 2005 13:53

  • Most recent members' review of The Son

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  • 8 out of 8 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    This Is Hardcore

    The Dardenne brothers are making some of the most important cinema in Europe at the moment (see "Rosetta" 1999). This film deals with material that in other hands could easily have been a bad TV movie, but here it's the backbone of a powerful and restrained portrait of a man in suffering, trying to find a way towards healing. (The unlikely hero being a slightly tubby bloke in specs with a bad back, brilliantly portrayed by Olivier Gourmet).

    The film's stark and unusual visual style will undoubtedly put loads of people off, but it becomes mesmerizing and adds an uncompromising verity as the story unfolds effortlessly towards it's gripping climax.

      • AnotherNightIn from Merseyside
      • Posted 09 Sep 2004 12:05

  • News and features

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    Daratt

    • 31 Jul 2007

    Whether out of guilt or just an enlightened belief in movies, the French have a commendable record for fostering filmmaking in their former colonies in Asia and West Africa. Mahamet Saleh Haroun was born in war-torn Chad, but he was wounded in the conflict and escaped in a wheel barrow. He went on to study filmmaking in France, and has two previous features to his credit both of which have been highly praised: Bye Bye Africa (1994) and Abouna (2002). Daratt - which means 'Dry Season' - is a... Read more

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Rating breakdown

1,821 Member ratings
  • 100
145
  • 90
123
  • 80
246
  • 70
278
  • 60
302
  • 50
198
  • 40
169
  • 30
117
  • 20
144
  • 10
99

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      • Olivier, a carpenter who teaches his craft to teenagers become obsessed with a new student, Francis. The reason for his obsession soon becomes apparent... ...